Roger Waters performs The Wall

by Derrick Hornyan

Allow me to preface this with the fact that I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan. I remember watching “The Wall” when it first came out on VHS and being totally entranced by the message (I had yet to understand) they were conveying. I have not stopped listening to Floyd since that day in 1982.

While I didn’t follow Roger Waters solo career after Floyd, I felt honored to be able to review such a cultural icon performing live (for what could be for the last time), an album that left such a huge mark on the world. While the original message of the album hasn’t changed in the last 32 years, Waters updated the way he presented his views on culture, war, and society.

Waters played the album in its entirety, and displayed the classic Gerald Scarfe animation from the movie across “The Wall.” In addition, Waters incorporated new images relevant to today’s political and social culture, and breath taking new CGI effects to the standard graphics and animation that have made “The Wall” what it is today.

With a group of children joining him on stage during “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2” fighting back against the inflatable head master, a flying pig, and a WWII plane that crashed into the wall and exploded upon impact, Waters melded classic Floyd with an updated rendition of “The Wall” quite nicely. I left the show knowing I got everything, and more, that I had expected from this show, and was pleasantly surprised to see former SNL band leader, G.E. Smith, is a part of Rogers’ band.

Tags: roger waters, the wall, G.E. Smith, Gerald Scarfe

Category: Planet Buzz